Why Israel is Losing The Media War

A 3-month investigation reveals the underlying basis for Palestinian sympathies in the media.

In mid-April, a bomb factory "work accident" that Palestinian spokesmen falsely described as an Israeli rocket attack ripped through the Ramallah Force-17 headquarters. As newspeople descended on the scene and got to work, Palestinian Authority security personnel roughly confiscated film from photographers and TV cameramen.

"They made it quite clear," says Mark Lavie of the Associated Press, that anyone who resisted "would not have a happy day."

As a result, photos of the blast did not appear on TV screens. Some news services did not even bother to report the film confiscation. But the false accusation of an Israeli rocket attack lingered in media reports for the next day or two.

In a sea of details, do such omissions and shadings accumulate to resemble systematic media bias against Israel? Do individual media outlets purposely slant the news to favor the Palestinian side? Or is anti-Israel media bias a myth, with reporters, under constant pressure to be first with breaking news, doing their best to explain fast-moving and highly emotional events?

A three-month investigation of the foreign press in Israel reveals that some foreign correspondents do impose their private sympathies on the news they report. More ominous for accurate reporting, however, is the success of the Palestinian Authority, through intimidation of journalists and manipulation of the journalistic process, in making sure that its version of events dominates the West's television screens and newspapers.

Meanwhile, Israel's own efforts to deliver its message ― ineffective, as even Ariel Sharon's media chief acknowledges ― add yet another reason that Israel seems to be losing the media war.

Obstruction And Intimidation

During the October 12 lynching of two Israeli soldiers in Ramallah, Palestinian police as well as demonstrators, eager to keep the event from the world media, punched, kicked and even threatened journalists with knives in order to confiscate their film, according to eyewitnesses. A local photographer for a major American daily was kept by PA police from recording the crowd's celebratory dancing after the murders. Ominously, she adds now that it "would jeopardize my security to be quoted by name." Like many journalists interviewed for this article, she asked not to be named.

After the lynching, when an Italian news crew's video was broadcast worldwide, Italian journalist Ricardo Cristiano ― apparently concerned that he would be associated with the crew ― wrote a letter of apology to the official PA newspaper Al Hayat, promising to "respect" the PA's "rules" for journalists.

In March, in an atmosphere hot with suspicion and hostility, Marwan Barghouti, leader of the PA's Tanzim militia, warned outright that any Israeli journalist who entered PA areas would be killed. Since then, most Israeli journalists either stay home or make sure to be accompanied by well-connected Palestinians.

Barghouti also threatened harm to any Palestinian who cooperated with Israeli news people, ratcheting up the danger for Palestinian journalists, who have long been under implied or explicit threat if their coverage displeases a high official or is labeled harmful to the Palestinian "cause."

In short, the Palestinian campaign to control the news by force or threat, while not new, has become pandemic. Since it is largely restricted to local journalists, foreign correspondents generally fail to see it. With the media battle less a war of words than of pictures, foreign print journalists are, in fact, the group least likely to feel the pressure. And if on occasion they do see it, they generally shrug off as insignificant its effect on the news.

That doesn't mean, however, that Palestinian intimidation is merely a local issue. It is not. Because the process of gathering and disseminating news to Western media now depends so much on Palestinian journalists, their allegiances and the pressures on them have a crucial effect on how news from Israel is reported worldwide.

According to the Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ), for years the Palestinian Authority has "muzzled local press critics via arbitrary arrests, threats, physical abuse, and the closure of media outlets," thereby frightening most Palestinian journalists into self-censorship.

It's a Mafia situation, says one Palestinian journalist.

"It's a Mafia situation," corroborates a Palestinian journalist, citing journalists being "threatened, beaten and made the targets of death threats, even from high officials such as [West Bank Preventive Security Service commander Jibril] Rajoub and Barghouti. And they do not report it," he adds, either to their employers or to professional organizations, because any complaint would only increase their danger while, if it interfered with their access to officials, putting their jobs at risk.

The 220-member Foreign Press Association has neither investigated nor undertaken action against Palestinian intimidation of journalists. "The FPA doesn't want to piss off the Palestinian Authority," snorts one foreign correspondent.

The New York Times correspondent Bill Orme, the member of the FPA board of directors who monitors problems of press freedom and press access ― "not press bias," he is quick to say ― acknowledges that the FPA has not "gotten into" the subject of intimidation. "We're a member organization, we respond to complaints," he explains. Having received no complaints about intimidation, the FPA ignores it.

Violence against journalists does not only originate from the Palestinian side, however. Nearly two dozen journalists, mostly Palestinians, have been shot by Israeli soldiers, including CNN's Ben Wedeman, wounded in the back by live fire in Gaza. Some have suffered very serious wounds. In only one or two cases has the IDF's investigation resulted in identifying or punishing the perpetrator.

Ranaan Gissin, foreign press and public affairs adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, says the problem is that journalists "want to be where the action is ― they want to see the bullet come out of the barrel." Because they work in the line of fire, it is difficult, he says, for soldiers to distinguish them from demonstrators.

Journalists want to be where the action is ― to see the bullet come out of the barrel.

However, according to the CPJ, Israeli security forces and Jewish settlers have beaten journalists covering the political violence, in some cases with Israeli soldiers looking on. The BBC's Paul Adams recounts that his camera crew was manhandled and had its car tires slashed by Jews in Elon Moreh, a West Bank settlement. (Adams was also roughed up by a Palestinian crowd in Bethlehem and forced to flee with his camera crew. The Elon Moreh event became part of a BBC report; the Bethlehem incident did not.)

While maintaining its silence on Palestinian intimidation of journalists, the FPA has firmly protested Israeli violence against journalists with letters to high government officials. No journalists interviewed believe, however, that shootings by Israeli soldiers represent Israeli government policy or that soldiers are targeting them specifically as journalists, let alone as individuals.

Nor do Israeli officials threaten journalists, take sanctions against those whose reporting displeases them or try to control what journalists write.

But those are exactly the techniques that have helped the Palestinian Authority determine a lot of what Americans and Europeans see and read in the "news from Israel."

Making News

As the Palestinian uprising grinds on, the words and especially the pictures that record it are molded mostly by Palestinians.

How did such an extraordinary situation develop?

Those Israeli journalists who still go into Palestinian areas make certain to be accompanied by Palestinians whose connections with the security services can protect them.

"But if you're accompanied in this way, you're also restricted in what you see and are able to report," points out Khaled Abu Toameh, a Palestinian reporter for Israeli, American and Arab outlets. "It's a little like the way foreign journalists in Syria or Iraq are followed by security people all the time."

Foreign journalists ― many of whom also don't go out into the field ― commonly rely on Palestinian stringers for information.

"The Palestinian stringers feed the foreign press with material that is acceptable to the Palestinian authorities," says Abu Toameh. A journalist, he adds, is "totally in their hands."

Foreign journalists also rely on Palestinian assistants, called "fixers," who know the language, can ensure easy access to officials and events, and will arrange anything a reporter needs, from a driver to a translator. These fixers are not professional journalists and are often affiliated with a political or security group ― part of their job is to impose their point of view.

As for pictures, 80 percent of camera people now working in PA areas are Palestinians, estimates a journalist for a Dutch agency, "so the pictures, with all their pathos and drama, come from the Palestinian side."

95 percent of the pictures are supplied by Palestinian film crews.

Her estimate may be low. Veteran Israeli commentator Ehud Ya'ari judges that "over 95 percent" of the pictures shipped to foreign and Israeli channels are supplied by Palestinian film crews.

In a recent article in the Jerusalem Report, Ya'ari wrote that Palestinians now "have effectively taken control of the reporting on the intifada. The vast majority of information of every type coming out of the area has been filtered through Palestinian eyes, or often, has actually been composed in the first place by Palestinians."

In short, news from Israel is generated by people loyal to and afraid of the Palestinian authorities.

"They simply don't dare film anything that could embarrass the Palestinian Authority," Ya'ari concludes. "So the cameras are angled to show a tainted view of the Israeli army's actions, never focus on the Palestinian gunmen and diligently produce a very specific kind of close-up of the situation on the ground."

But are the foreign correspondents, journalists who have reached the top of their professions, so lazy or easily fooled as to accept propaganda for truth?

No doubt some are but Fiamma Nirenstein, correspondent for the Italian daily La Stampa, offers a different theory of why news reports are so often unsympathetic to Israel. The journalists, she hypothesizes, are the victims of their own nearly uniform "predilections" to see events within a left-wing, pro-Palestinian and often unrealistically romanticized framework.

That is, many correspondents accept what comes to them from Palestinian sources because they are already predisposed to mold events into a similar form.

The Mind of the Journalist

"A foreign journalist who claims to be 'objective' will be boring or a liar," proclaims Sam Kiley of the London Times. "There are lots of truths in this conflict."

Many would agree that the foreign press is not objective. But if so, why do so many correspondents seem to see the same truth? "They feel they must help the Palestinians," says Nirenstein.

The correspondents don't deny their private judgments.

"My sympathies are for the victim," says one ― he means the Palestinians. "The Jews use their history of persecution to make the Americans and Europeans feel sorry for them," objects another, likewise off the record.

Dutch TV's Conny Mus identifies as central "the fact that a mighty army is using all its might to kill a smaller force." Mus goes on to contend that the press presents "an accurate picture" of events and that pro-Israel readers think the news is skewed only because they "don't know what is happening on the Palestinian side."

To an extent he's right ― Jews often don't like to see Israel in a bad light, even when the facts are reported accurately. Critics of the media sometimes object to what they regard as "pro-Palestinian" stories merely because they don't like their point of view challenged.

But a report can be accurate and still miss the point. For example, an article may emphasize the number of Palestinian casualties, as if body count is an objective measure, without indicating that the Israeli dead have been mostly innocent civilians, not armed rioters and terrorists. Many journalists simply note Israel's "conquest" of the West Bank, never indicating that this conquest came in a defensive war against Jordan, and that the Palestinians were never sovereign there.

As Andrea Levin of CAMERA, the energetic and sometimes shrill media-watchdog group, points out, reporters "may cover a story and get the micro issues correct [while] getting the macro issue completely wrong."

Journalists romanticize Palestinians fighting the Israeli Goliath, as if underdogs are by definition the good guys.

Nirenstein sees her colleagues romanticizing the Palestinians as David fighting the Israeli Goliath, as if the underdogs are by definition the good guys. That, she writes in the January issue of Commentary magazine, places the journalists ― whom she characterizes as "iconoclastic, sporty, ironic, virtually all of one mind" ― on the wrong side of the cultural gap between "Western and Eastern civilizations, between democracy and dictatorship, between the Judeo-Christian world and the world of Islam."

The journalists' mind-set may also come from what an American-Israeli journalist castigates as "massive ignorance."

Many correspondents get little or no preparation time before being dropped into Jerusalem and Ramallah. Once on the ground, they must play catch-up, learning on the job, often from other foreign correspondents.

"We are very superficial," acknowledges the Frankfurter Allgemeiner's Dr. Jorg Bremer disarmingly. "If we cover the news every day, when do we have time to read a book?"

This lack of preparation nearly mandates that correspondents put the template of previous postings onto a situation with a very different history and particulars. CNN's Jerusalem bureau chief Mike Hanna, for example, has been characterized by novelist Naomi Ragen and others as hard-wired by his 20 years as a correspondent in South Africa to see the situation in Israel in terms of "black and white" ― an oppressor and an oppressed.

But issues of journalistic judgment and private sensibility are one thing. Lurking behind them is the larger question of whether reportorial sympathy slips into outright bias ― and if bias then becomes purposeful manipulation of the news.

Troubling incidents of misreporting and underreporting abound. Media watchdog groups have accused The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and London Times, along with the Washington Post, CNN, Sky News, Reuters, the BBC and other outlets, of editing news stories to minimize Palestinian misdemeanors and emphasize Israeli ones, to shift sympathy away from Israel or to make Israel look like the aggressor. The media have also been charged with ignoring stories that supply context crucial to understanding the facts on the ground when such stories show the Palestinians in a less than positive light.

Such largely ignored subjects include accounts of Palestinian Red Crescent ambulances carting rocks and Molotov cocktails to flashpoints, the purposeful use of civilians as cover by Palestinian combatants, Palestinian encouragement and even busing of children to join violent demonstrations and the staging of "spontaneous demonstrations" for optimal media coverage (and the failure of reporters to describe them as staged). There is also the ceaseless incitement of hatred against Jews and Israelis in the Palestinian (and other Arab) media, which many correspondents and their editors view, astonishingly, as irrelevant to the national conflict they are reporting.

Many media outlets, moreover, promulgate as fact their own views on political questions that remain in dispute. The Independent and CNN, for example, routinely call Israeli settlements "illegal under international law," although the issue is not clear. Reuters, its bureau in Jerusalem staffed by a high percentage of Palestinian journalists, now refers to Gilo, a neighborhood incorporated by Israel into municipal Jerusalem, as a "settlement," giving a radical Palestinian take on the issue.

Do such choices reflect political bias? Journalistic negligence? Lack of historical context inherent in a culture of sound bites? A useful glimpse at the unpalatable "other side of the story"? Or even a slanting of coverage by the international networks, such as CNN and BBC, to help them "penetrate" Arab and Muslim media markets?

The worldview of the journalist wafts outward from the evening TV and the morning paper. Consumers of the news may not know that they are getting a partial story ― even if they recognize that any story repeated often enough will, like blanket advertising, finally leave its mark on the public mind.

The Quality of Israeli 'Hasbara'

But it's not just the other guy's fault. If Israel is losing the crucial second war of media coverage, the woeful inadequacy of its hasbara ― its efforts at explaining its policies ― is also to blame, and has been a problem discussed but not dealt with effectively for many years.

Ironically, in their shop talk, even staunchly pro-Israel journalists sing the PA's praises. "A gem in the hands of the media," says David Bedein, whose Israel Media Resources agency is commonly associated with the Israeli right. Bedein praises especially the PA's accessibility and openness.

Matthew Kelman, a correspondent for USA Today, calls the PA "a pleasure to deal with. Their officials offer to help, they're easy to deal with, they give easy access, they're more friendly and warm than the Israelis ― and they have better stories."

Nobody says anything like that about Israel's media apparatus. On the contrary ― and off the record ― reporters who care agree that Israel "couldn't be doing a worse job" of hasbara, as one of them puts it.

"The spokespeople don't know how to talk to the camera," he says with exasperation, "they have poor English, they often appear in uniform, which makes them seem like part of the problem, and they speak in bombastic, self-righteous terms."

Another calls Israeli media officials "prickly" and complains, "They don't call back, they leak information selectively, they sometimes don't release information even when they have it."

A third narrates an emblematic encounter with a ministry press officer who, citing a court's gag order, refused him information for an article he was writing. A few days later he saw the information in a Hebrew weekly. "The press guy didn't even know the gag order had been lifted," he fumes.

Reasons for the ineffectiveness of Israel's hasbara include budget cuts, especially in the Government Press Office; bureaucratic infighting between the Prime Minister's office, the GPO and individual ministries; overwork, arrogance and plain incompetence. "Israel doesn't realize the effect," sighs a reporter.

"Our story is very complex to deliver," protests the prime minister's media chief, Ranaan Gissin, "while their story lends itself to simple treatment." He admits that Israel's hasbara has suffered from "technical problems," including inadequate spokespeople. But now, he promises, "I am sending people who can deliver," and he says he has made other changes to improve Israel's performance in the media war.

It may not be enough. While Israel's Government Press Office simply issues each new journalist a press card and lets him fend for himself, says Steven Rosenberg, editor of the Boston Jewish Advocate, the Palestinians will approach him offering a wide network of help.

"When background information, photos, interviews and briefings are readily abundant," Rosenberg points out, "it makes a reporter's life much easier." Such guidance can also help to shape the reporter's understanding of the events he's writing about in one direction or the other.

Israel's current foreign minister, Shimon Peres, is famously quoted as remarking that a good policy requires no hasbara while a bad policy can't be helped by hasbara.

That may be true in a perfect world. So far as fighting the media war is concerned, Israel doesn't yet seem to realize that it isn't living in a perfect world.

The opinions expressed in the comment section are the personal views of the commenters. Comments are moderated, so please keep it civil.

Visitor Comments: 34

(34)
D.M. Gorelik,
November 27, 2016 5:12 PM

No news would be better news

So if you're a reporter under these restricted conditions then why bother to report at all? Since it's all baloney anyway then let the PA supply all the news and quit attaching your name. That is if you have the courage,ethics and moral backbone to miss a story on principle. But sadly, even in the US it's all about the "story" these days. No matter truth, fiction or putting someone in harms way. Sad, sad state of the world. I miss Walter Cronkite!!

(33)
Edmond Richter,
July 24, 2014 2:43 PM

How israel can win the Media War

Your article is excellent. The best part is "The quality of Israeli Hasbara" The Israeli Hasbara is miserable and it will not help us to say that the medias are antisemitic, antisionist and against Israel. WE ARE THE LOSERS IN THE MEDIA WAR. Now I wrote a project about what we should do to win. This project was published by Alyaexpress News. I can send it to you. I am looking for help in contacting jewish and israeli organisations so that we could begin to implement the ideas that are listed in that project. Name of the article:"Principles for an offensive counter-propaganda"

(32)
Dr. Jan Gunneweg,
March 21, 2006 12:00 AM

"a mighty army is using all its might to kill a smaller force."?

Dutch TV's Conny Mus does not really identifies anything. First, the IDF is not out to go on the rampage "to kill"! Some fanatic Palestinians do that and the IDF protects the Jewish population against it. Second, coming myself from Holland: Would the Dutch have acted differently from that what the IDF does? I don't think so. Third, with the results of the inquiry of David Margolis, I do not think that the population gets "an accurate picture" as Mus claims. And last but not least, I do not feel Mus' kind of journalistic feeling that people "don't know what is happening on the Palestinian side." My information is that one very well understands what is happening but that talking about it does not serve individual opinions in the World.

To an extent he's right -- Jews often don't like to see Israel in a bad light, even when the facts are reported accurately. Critics of the media sometimes object to what they regard as "pro-Palestinian" stories merely because they don't like their point of view challenged.

(31)
Alex Eidman,
April 28, 2002 12:00 AM

Dear David,
I thought your article was extremely interesting and very well resaerched. I don't think enough people take into account how much Israel is suffering due to its inadequacy in the field of hasbara. I am a student at the Ramaz Upper School in Manhattan. I am doing a term paper on the failure of Israeli Hasbara and the contributions it has made to Israel's precarious situation. Could you recommend any books/resources?
It would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Alex Eidman New Jersey, USA.

(30)
Anonymous,
March 19, 2002 12:00 AM

thank you

thank you, you took the words from my mouth,as someone from tel-aviv i always see the media on the palestinian side unjustfully, we need to explain to the american public what's realy going on,
the fear of suicide bombing,the effects on the daily life for the israely citizens,the facts, recently i ask myself if we doing good by responding in the right way, so the palestinians got excecly what they wanted,by terror
is it fair? the fact is that israel as civilized country we forget to explain what is realy happening there,thank you for trying.............Adam

(29)
syngin gee,
March 17, 2002 12:00 AM

Telling the truth.

I feel very frustrated when I hear the Israeli spokespeople speak on the news, especially when debating with the opposition. It seems that whenever Israeli spokespeople, like Mr pinkas, come to debate a PA spokesman like Abdul Rahman for example, they never quite get our message across to the media.Mr Rahman, however, does a fabulous PR job, singing the song of occuption over an over while we never realy answer or explain our side of this so called occupation.I bet most of the people in this world especially the young people dont realy know the history of Israel or the jews , they just understand current news wich basically edits history up untill 1948. This major problem must be delt with by short to the point historical answers. For example when ever Mr Rahman cries about occupation , the Israeli side must make the point that this land was captured from the Jordanians and not a sovereign Palestine , and that this territory is disputed territory until an agreement is signed. That we as jews have major claims to this land as well- both religiously and historically. We must make the media see this as well as the rest of the world.Please take note of this comment . Syngin.

(28)
Anonymous,
September 29, 2001 12:00 AM

Distribute this information through UJC A.S.A.P.

It is your obligation to distribute this information to Jewish communities in the United States so they will be able to use this. As soon as possible.
I am sure that the company will find sponsers that will be able to provide the money for this. It is critical especially since there are no real elements to blame in terror and Israel is becomming atarget.

(27)
Sol Punto,
September 15, 2001 12:00 AM

Journalism - what for?

I wondered how it came that the media are so full of comprehension and sympathy, of 'information' on the Palestinians.I have had the same sensation reading the papers, hearing comments on radios and TVs. I just wondered why nobody made nuanced comments while the manipulation of the medias by the same Journalists was obvious. It cannot simply be normal that all are of the same opinion, the same focus on the events.
Minimizing later the jubilation of some palestinians (silenced immediatly by Arafat) at the American tragedy.
They are too frightened to be regarded as anti-arab, or anti-islamic if they dared to give negative images of one of these States. At the end, they are cowards.
Of course, on this state of things, Israel should also look at his own faults, and first of all, they should get out of Gaza - at any cost.

(26)
Baruch Cohen,
September 14, 2001 12:00 AM

Proof media is anti Israel

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=24474

Holy, did you hear this story. 2 AP reporters videotaped thousands of Palestinians celebrating and dancing in Ramallah, when they heard news of the World Trade Center massacre. Apparently, AP refuses to show the tapes of the Palestinians celebrating, because the Palestinians are threatening these AP reporters with death. Here we see how pro Arab the media is. Here AP videotapes, thousands of Palestinians celebrating and dancing the murder of thousands of innocent civilians and AP wont show this tape. I demand President George W Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair tell the Arab appeasers at AP, to show this tape. Pass this story to everyone.

(25)
Don Beaver,
September 13, 2001 12:00 AM

I find that much of the media in America
has a pro Jewish slant. How will you deal with the attack on America based on our support of Israel. It seems apparent to much of the world that America is entirely "pro-jewish".

(24)
corine Skorski,
September 13, 2001 12:00 AM

right on target

Thank you so much for enlightening all
of us. I knew,of course,as did every jew
that the media was biased. It is so
obvious. I realized full well that the
Palestinians were the recipients of much
Media and Public Relations counsel.
However,I had no idea of the extent of
the manipulations to which the foreign
willing lent its services.
Is there anything at all that people who
are deeply concerned about this state
of affairs can contribute to reveal the
true face of both the Palestinians and
the bias of the different press agencies
whose conduct is contrary to every
principle of journalistic standards!

I would so like to help!
Besides the foreign office,is there
a relevant agency which might be willing
to enroll volunteers!

(23)
david buxbaum,
September 13, 2001 12:00 AM

excellent article

wonderfull article try to have it published in the international media.

(22)
Philippe Wajdenbaum,
September 12, 2001 12:00 AM

Belgium

If you think american and english press are not objective, here in Belgium, it is so much worse.
Today, after this tragedy that hit your country, a belgian journalist said on TV that it was "the act of desperates people that had no other choice to be heard". And then they explained that Sharon is responsible for the failure of the peace process. So according to the belgian press, it is once again the fault of the jews.

(21)
,
September 11, 2001 12:00 AM

tragedy

I read this article yesterday and intended to respond then.Today my country sufferred devestating,cowardly,terroristic acts.We hurt so bad here but through it all I began to hear over and over again"this what Israel has to endure every day."Pray for us to have the strength and resolve to deal with this.

(20)
Fred Le Vine,
September 11, 2001 12:00 AM

All ot the reporters mentioned, must have studied journalism in the Julius Streicher School of Journalism, and would have reported Kristal Nacht as a Jewish rebelion against the German Government alles antisemitten

(19)
Anonymous,
September 10, 2001 12:00 AM

Stop CNN - Get rid of AOL

One thing all of us can do is to cancel our AOL accounts and send a message that we will not support AOL as long as CNN continues its vicious Anti-Semitic agenda.

(18)
,
September 10, 2001 12:00 AM

Why is Israel's PR such a dud?

Shimon Peres certainly has his head in the clouds if he thinks that PR (hasbara) doesn't count. I don't understand how the Israeli government can be so out of it about such a potentially vital issue.

(17)
E. Gordon,
September 10, 2001 12:00 AM

Solution to Poor Hasbarah

There are so many American and Anglo Saxon olim now in Israel. Many who are writers and lecturers by trade. The continued unwillingness to actively enlist their help in dealing with the news reporters is bewildering. If it is just knuckle-headed Sabra arrogance, I suppose the question unanswered is: " What will it take for them to grow up and share the responsibility?" Or as others have put it: "Ad matai?".

(16)
Anonymous,
September 10, 2001 12:00 AM

Embarrass Israel into doing the right thing

Palestinian bullying of the media aside, Israel's media strategy reflects a government that is stubborn, self-righteous and isolationist. Yep, sounds like the Israel I know. When will we learn that "winning our point" requires more than having the truth? We must fight the P.R. War with the same vigor that we always muster up when Jewish survival is on the line. Hasbara is now even more critical than military action. Shimon Perez and all similar block-heads need to get a clue.

(15)
Shira Levin,
September 10, 2001 12:00 AM

The media war and a pro-Palestinian bias

It doen't surprise me that there is a media bias in favor of the Palestinians.
What is behing it is a refusal to see the legitmacy of the existance of Israel. Also, Islam dictates the conquest of land for Allah. That is the
spirit behind Arab refusal to recognise
Israel legitmacy.

(14)
,
September 10, 2001 12:00 AM

How unfortunate that while fighting a war with the aggressive PLO, Israel must also worry about their image by the Press. Don't any of these reporters understand the background and history of these people that are provoking these incidents just so they can stir up sentiment? Maybe a History lesson would help, and they could begin reporting the truth.

(13)
c c,
September 10, 2001 12:00 AM

They Need HELP!!!

No need for Hasbara? Yet another of Mr. Peres'warped evaluation of reality. The press corps has no guts. Instead of lamenting what have known for so long, we need to collectively come up with a solution. Boycott is good, but will millions of people worldwide join? I don't think so.These same so-called journalists have no fear of whining that Israel limits their access. I like the idea of a Hasbara Ezrachit. I think it would work. I would happily volunteer to do it. I sometimes cringe when I hear the Israeli representatives in the media. They are not polished and project a poor image. They are also poor actors and, let's face it, information access is an act. Along with registering thousands of complaints to the offending media agencies and trying to get this information to the public, we should keep contacting the appropriate Israeli ministries to polish their presentations.They need to understand that in the eyes of the media they are no longer the underdog, and cameras are more sensitive to the false tears of the PA representatives. The PA and its thugs should be discredited at every turn;every lie should be challenged. If we can't get the stoies of journalists being intimidated on the national news, we can get the stories on our local news and hopefully someone, somewhere, someone will pick it up.

(12)
david davido,
September 10, 2001 12:00 AM

a pity you're not a reporter for cnn.

your article is great I hope that changes in the world media will come out of it!

(11)
Aharon Cassel,
September 10, 2001 12:00 AM

Hasbara: what the individual can do

Your analysis of the issue is clear. It also seems to be accurate, including the analysis of what is wrong with Israel's hasbara (PR). The crux of the matter is quote - Reasons for the ineffectiveness of Israel's PR include budget cuts, especially in the Government Press Office; bureaucratic infighting between the Prime Minister's office, the GPO and individual ministries; overwork, arrogance and plain incompetence. "Israel doesn't realize the effect," sighs a reporter. - unquote.

There is a multitude of individuals, like myself, asking what can we do to help. After the Yom Kippur war, the police organised Mishmar Ezrachi (Civil Defense)to help take part of the internal security load off its shoulders. The police was initially skeptical of the use of Mishmar Ezrachi but were eventually delighted with its role.

Let the GPO organise a Hasbara Ezrachit (Civil PR). There will be hundreds/thousands with the ability and the enthusiasm who are willing to devote the time to help the press corps, as the Palestinians do (as described in the article).

Let's not wait till the media battle is irreparably lost. Let the GPO tap the aid which is being offered, and do it NOW.

(10)
Jane Topp,
September 10, 2001 12:00 AM

Simple solution

I have found an excellent solution...get rid of my TV...refuse ti watch their lies.I know you will say"But what difference does your one TV make?" I think it starts with each of us,before God where are we going to stand?Are we going to keep on letting those media giants form our opinions or shall we not BOYCOTT them instead of Israel???

(9)
Anonymous,
September 9, 2001 12:00 AM

this is good. now its time for a press conference.

Now its time to manipulate media toward our side.

If a fund is needed, I'd chip in; but I would want to see media results ASAP

(8)
Ron Whittaker,
September 9, 2001 12:00 AM

thanks for telling the truth

Thanks for getting the truth out to us.
I always read the news with a skeptical eye anyways. We're not getting this viewpoint from any of our western media.

(7)
Anonymous,
September 9, 2001 12:00 AM

truth

At last a truthful commentry of the news as it really is.

(6)
Anonymous,
September 9, 2001 12:00 AM

Soldiers report news

This might sound oversimplistic but I think either soldiers or people undercover should cover the news in Palestinian areas. I think all these schools and camps that are being run in Palestinian areas to teach the children and teenagers to kill Jews and become suicide bombers should be made illegal and closed immediately.

(5)
Anonymous,
September 9, 2001 12:00 AM

Thank you

Thank you for this article - it is very informative. My question is, what can we do about it? How can we lobby media organizations in NORTH America and Europe (sorry, I'm Canadian) to suppress the information coming from the Palestinians territories, since we don't know how accurate it is? This is a tough situation, but what can we do about it?

Thank you for this informative article. I agree that Israel has been made out to be the heavy, the aggressor too often. I don't believe there is any such thing as objective media. There is a bias in all reporting because the reporters are human. For an objective view I would tend to do as a judge in a courtroom and listen to all sides of the story, take into account what can be factually proven beyond reasonable doubt, and weigh these together. There are truths in both sides of the story but the TRUTH usually falls somewhere in between. To demonize or portray either one side or the other as being right or wrong does a grave injustice to all involved and certainly takes us further away from the truth. We must also never forget that the media is a business first and foremost and the livelihood of those invovled depends on grabbing ratings and selling copy, not on objectivity, and anything we see or read must be taken with a grain of salt. Ultimately the only one who knows the whole, objective truth is the Holy One, Blessed Be He, and that only in Him will either side ever acheive lasting peace or well being. "Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, sayeth the Lord of Hosts."

(2)
Anonymous,
September 9, 2001 12:00 AM

Oh for the days of Edward R. Murrow, Quincy Howe, et al!

I agree that all PA activities must be monitored 24/7 and - where inflammatory - summarily closed down. When NY Times asks why, display the material!

(1)
John Shook,
September 9, 2001 12:00 AM

Israel's Media War

Cut off the head of the Snake (Arafat), reclaim all your land, tell the world to take a hike and who cares who wins the Media war.

I've been striving to get more into spirituality. But it seems that every time I make some progress, I find myself slipping right back to where I started. I'm getting discouraged and feel like a failure. Can you help?

The Aish Rabbi Replies:

Spiritual slumps are a natural part of spiritual growth. There is a cycle that people go through when at times they feel closer to God and at times more distant. In the words of the Kabbalists, it is "two steps forward and one step back." So although you feel you are slipping, know that this is a natural process. The main thing is to look at your overall progress (over months or years) and be able to see how far you've come!

This is actually God's ingenious way of motivating us further. The sages compare this to teaching a baby how to walk. When the parent is holding on, the baby shrieks with delight and is under the illusion that he knows how to walk. Yet suddenly, when the parent lets go, the child panics, wobbles and may even fall.

At such times when we feel spiritually "down," that is often because God is letting go, giving us the great gift of independence. In some ways, these are the times when we can actually grow the most. For if we can move ourselves just a little bit forward, we truly acquire a level of sanctity that is ours forever.

Here is a practical tool to help pull you out of the doldrums. The Sefer HaChinuch speaks about a great principle in spiritual growth: "The external awakens the internal." This means that although we may not experience immediate feelings of closeness to God, eventually, by continuing to conduct ourselves in such a manner, this physical behavior will have an impact on our spiritual selves and will help us succeed. (A similar idea is discussed by psychologists who say: "Smile and you will feel happy.")

That is the power of Torah commandments. Even if we may not feel like giving charity or praying at this particular moment, by having a "mitzvah" obligation to do so, we are in a framework to become inspired. At that point we can infuse that act of charity or prayer with all the meaning and lift it can provide. But if we'd wait until being inspired, we might be waiting a very long time.

May the Almighty bless you with the clarity to see your progress, and may you do so with joy.

In 1940, a boatload 1,600 Jewish immigrants fleeing Hitler's ovens was denied entry into the port of Haifa; the British deported them to the island of Mauritius. At the time, the British had acceded to Arab demands and restricted Jewish immigration into Palestine. The urgent plight of European Jewry generated an "illegal" immigration movement, but the British were vigilant in denying entry. Some ships, such as the Struma, sunk and their hundreds of passengers killed.

If you seize too much, you are left with nothing. If you take less, you may retain it (Rosh Hashanah 4b).

Sometimes our appetites are insatiable; more accurately, we act as though they were insatiable. The Midrash states that a person may never be satisfied. "If he has one hundred, he wants two hundred. If he gets two hundred, he wants four hundred" (Koheles Rabbah 1:34). How often have we seen people whose insatiable desire for material wealth resulted in their losing everything, much like the gambler whose constant urge to win results in total loss.

People's bodies are finite, and their actual needs are limited. The endless pursuit for more wealth than they can use is nothing more than an elusive belief that they can live forever (Psalms 49:10).

The one part of us which is indeed infinite is our neshamah (soul), which, being of Divine origin, can crave and achieve infinity and eternity, and such craving is characteristic of spiritual growth.

How strange that we tend to give the body much more than it can possibly handle, and the neshamah so much less than it needs!